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News Briefs

Eileen Mercier to step down as Chair of the Board

Eileen Mercier will retire as Chair of the Board at the end of 2014. A management consultant and former senior executive, she joined the Teachers' Board in 2005 and was appointed Chair in 2007.

The two plan sponsors, the Ontario Teachers' Federation and the Ontario government, announced that Jean Turmel will replace Ms. Mercier as Chair on Jan. 1, 2015. Mr. Turmel, president of Perseus Capital Inc., has been a Teachers' Board member since 2007. He is currently Chair of the Board's Investment Committee.

Plan change: Spousal survivor benefits

In some cases, the amount of a spousal survivor benefit may fall below our threshold for payment as a monthly pension and survivors will receive a lump-sum payment. For example, instead of paying a spousal survivor benefit of $50 per month, we would send the survivor a lump-sum payment of the total amount they are entitled.

This plan change became effective Jan. 1, 2014 and applies only to post-retirement survivor benefits, and it affects a small number of survivors. For information on both pre- and post-retirement survivor benefits, review our Survivor Benefits brochure.

No need to buy back mandatory unpaid days (working teachers)

The second of two mandatory unpaid days, which resulted from the last rounds of collective bargaining unit negotiations, took place in March 2014. As a reminder, we consider these unpaid days pensionable service.

This means that if you were scheduled to work on a mandatory unpaid day, your employer will report credit and remit contributions on your behalf as they normally would if you were working.